Hurricane Yoh: First Stage!
by funkmasterjo
Summary: [YohxAnna] Yoh is training, and gets sent in search of batteries by Anna! Mild funniness and insanity ensues.Along with extreme doses of Physics principles [boo!] being applied and Yoh going through what could be considered abusive training [nothing new]
1. Chapter 1: Introduction

_Introduction_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

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Anna watched Yoh, the lazy bum. That was only his 350th lap, and it's already been 3 hours. How outrageous! This, she reminded herself, was exactly why she wanted him to do laps around the house instead of the city. Her ghosts were obviously won over by Yoh's charm; those reports were _far_ too favourable. Here, from her seat on top of the spire she had Yoh build for her as his own Christmas present, she could see the startling magnitude of Yoh's legendary slacking ability. Idly, she considered reprimanding him through that "walkie-talky" device she had confiscated from Manta. No, she'd used up the batteries from continuous use yesterday and today. She'd need new ones, but _how_? Wait, is he slowing down even _more_? She picked up a brick. Oh, wait, the weight-seal-spells are just increasing again, of course he's slowing down. Now, how to get those batteries, and why is Yoh so slow? Well, one of the answers was easy enough. 

(A/N: Wight seal-spells? Easy, they create a channel for furyoku, which can affect natural forces. Hence, the natural force of gravity is being increased around Yoh due to these seal's conduit nature.)

Anna reached for the brick again; she was running out of those, too.

Strange, were _is_ Yoh? She glanced around, _there!_ He... he was walking! Walking! To her credit, such an incredibly shocking occurrence as Yoh daring to so blatantly catch his breath–while in Anna's sight, no less–didn't cause her to pause more than a moment. Off the brick flew.

It was surprisingly tricky business, hurling a brick under such adverse weather conditions. The storm was at it's peak, after all: the wind speed fluxuated between high and ridiculous at seemingly irregular intervals. Also, the force of the rain has to be considered, and visibility is poor underneath the heavy storm clouds. Only one as in tune with nature as a shaman, or one as experienced with throwing objects at Yoh as Anna, could manage such an impressive feat.

The resounding thud of brick meeting Yoh was lost in the howl of the storm, but Anna was confident in her aim. She looked at Yoh's collapsed form, waiting for it to get back up, and head off in search of batteries.

He did get up, and he read the water-soaked note attached to the brick. And inevitably, he did go in search of batteries. Where? He had no idea. The stores would all be closed, and the streets were awash with water. In fact, their house would have been soaked and battered, if it weren't for his encasing bubble of furyoku, so the stores would either be shut down, or all together wrecked.

Now, if he could get to Manta's house, he could flare his furyoku, Manta would feel it, he's displayed that ability as well, lately, and Yoh could get the batteries! And if Manta didn't have the batteries… well... hmmm. If Manta didn't have the batteries… he would… think of something eventually.

The cold dread that had settled on Kyoyama Anna finally rose along with her fiancée. _'Baka-Yoh, don't you know how much that worried me?'_ Yoh was looking around dazedly, he had propped himself against the wall and was reading her message. _'Any longer Yoh, any longer and I would have run out there to help you. Out in the rain, would you really let your fiancée go into a hurricane without a shield? You would hate that, I know. And you'd have only yourself to blame, worrying your fiancée, who do you think you are! I swear if you worry-'_

'_No… not worry, Kyoyama Anna does not worry, I… I was just... I have a duty, that's all, a **duty** to… to keep you safe, I wasn't worried, am not! I am not worried! I have to believe this, this is my truth! If I become soft to Yoh, he'll see it immediately, and he'll get close to me, he'll… Kami, I want it.'_

_'No! I… the cold is deluding me, that train of thought is useless.' _A lie, a blatant lie. She had conquered the cold, and understood it. It would never delude her; it was part of her itako training. Shamans could master and bend the wills of the elements, and an itako could master their own wills to outright ignore the elements. _'This is nothing, he's just being lazy. There is nothing to worry **about** There are no reasons for that level of fatigue, he's just exaggerating, yet I thought he was out of that childish behaviour? _Mentally, Anna tacked on a few more laps, squats, and double mediums for tomorrow's training._ The only other explanations for his behaviour would be that the weight seals are malfunctioning. But that can't be right, Kino-sensei created them herself. Her skill is usually unrivalled, but when it comes to Yoh's training materials, her precision breeds the closest creations to perfection that I have ever seen. The seals cannot malfunction, and no outside force could have changed their settings, Yoh would have noticed, and complained. The last solution is that Yoh is hiding something from me, truly hiding something. That only happens in two cases: When what he's hiding would hurt me, or…. when he wants to surprise me, but what could hurt or surprise me that would drain Yoh of his stamina and furyoku? _

Yoh finally trudged out of sight and Anna headed downstairs. Her day-time soaps were on. She passed by a mirror on her way to the living room downstairs, spying small teeth marks in her lipstick. It was a freakishly well guarded secret: Kyoyama Anna bit her bottom lip when she was worried about Yoh when there was no one around to see. _'I shouldn't have worn this today, but Tamao has been complaining that her gift had gone unused, and today is…'_ she stopped still _'I hid it, ever since that first question and… surprise, I hid it. He can't know what today is, not even a serious Yoh has any means to find out, I spread too many false dates, created too much chaos. No one knows, all traces of that information have been utterly erased, and there is **no way**._

(A/N: hah, after much deliberation I decided to throw my readers a bone. Anna's talking about her _birthday_. Appearently, she's afraid of giving Yoh some excuse to get her gifts for some reason. Perhaps she fears the consequential warm-fuzzy fealing? But why?) (Balatant foreshadowing.)

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(AN: arg! that document editor ate my paragraph indentions! What the- I mean, that's just rude! Is nothing sacred? If anyone knows how to revive my indentions, i'd feel much better, really)(Also, my ?.! combinations are similarly eaten, and in need of revival)


	2. Chapter 2: Battery Run

_Chapter 2_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

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Yoh trudged through the rain. It was up to his ankles around here, and it seemed to get worse the closer he got to Manta's house. On the brighter side, the higher water level uncovered something amusing about his training weights. _Wow…_ After a particularly staggering step, Yoh's landing foot created a huge splash to completely saturate the tiny spots of dryness that Yoh had left. _Oh… that was bad, but awesome! I wonder what happens if I cannonball with this stuff on? I'm going to cannonball the hot spring as soon as I get back, yeah!_

_And then I'll eat cheeseburgers, and Anna will give me a massage, while listening to Bob's new CD... _

Yoh can be forgiven for his hurricane-induced delirium. Because if he _had _remembered that his house was surprisingly lacking of cheeseburgers, new Bob CD's, and most definitely of a fiancée willing to massage _anything_, he might simply give up on life right there.

_ Man, this week's been tough. And this hurricane's huge! Even though school's been cancelled… Anna still works my butt off training! She takes this way too seriously; she's going to bust a vein or something one of these days._

Yoh stopped, he had to. Where there was once a bridge leading over a small river, there was now half a city block's worth of rushing water. _It's almost like Anna bossed nature into making this harder for me. I can't get any wetter but if I go in there, I'll sink with these weights on and get dragged downstream. _Yoh looked downstream and spotted various broken pieces of furniture at just the perfect angle for impalement. He looked across, Manta's house could be seen in the distance. _I'm… already feeling dizzy. I want to sleep… but… especially today, I have to do what Anna says. Oh well, you never know until you try, right?_ And, half deluded Yoh proceeded to walk straight through the river, his weight charms keeping him from being swept away as he trudged on the bottom.

So, after many perilous trials, when Manta opened the door, he came face-to-face with a very muddy Yoh… with tree and furniture debrees that hadn't been blown away by the wind still in his hair, bite marks (from what? We can only guess) and with a garden hose somehow wrapped around his upper body. _Those last few blocks were insane._

"Yoh!"

"H-hey Manta, w- (cough) what's up?"

"Um, not… much?"

And so, a short while later, Yoh made his way home again with his bounty, leaving a worried and still mildly confused Manta behind. _That manta's great. But if I left there any later, my furyoku shield would have collapsed and the little guy would have been blown into the wall. _

_Maybe visiting was too dangerous in a hurricane after all? Oh well, it's all right in the end._

(What? Of course Yoh made a mini-furyoku shield... Manta can't even open the door against hurricane force winds! Why hasn't Yoh used his shield up to this point?... he doesn't have enough to waste on something like that)

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A/N: Wow, the story is written quickly enough, but it doesn't really go anywhere _yet_, huh? Well actually... A lot has happened to poor Yoh, I feel ashamed that I have belitled his situation now. Oh well! 


	3. Chapter 3: Tumbling Tamao

_Chapter 3_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

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Anna was drinking tea in front of the TV. However, the hurricane had finally knocked the stations off the air and she was left with nothing to do but contemplate Yoh's punishment for taking so long. She rehearsed her speech mentally: _"Yoh, you lazy bum. Are you going to leave your future wife all alone in a storm, hungry? What kind of husband are you, anyway? If you think I'll just cook my own dinner, you have another thing coming. That thing being double laps for the next **three** days! How could you worry your fiancée like that?"_ She tacked the bit about "worrying" on just because she knew how much it would bother him. (What? Wasn't it because she was actually worried? You fool! If she hears you, you'll die! Run for it!). Yoh was odd like that, but she suspected that he had finally becoming desensitized to extra training.

Her speech done, she returned to her "Insensitive Ice Queen" mental exorcises (personalized itako training). She was mildly annoyed at the knock when it disturbed her.

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Finally, Tamao had made it. As a house of shamans, there was never any need to check the weather report. Even Tamao was in tune with nature enough to sense tomorrow's weather by now. The downside to this, of course, was that she never knew tomorrow's weather in _other_ places. If she knew a hurricane was going to hit Yoh's inn, she would have tried to get there _before_ it. As it was, she had to go _through _the hurricane. If she hadn't Oversoul-ed (spirit control-ed) Ponchi into that trashcan lid for a shield…

"Welcome"

"Ah! A… Anna-san?" Anna stood before her… in an Onsen(hot spring facility… thing) hostess dress

"Come in" Anna said simply, as if she wasn't in Onsen-hostess dress-up. As if it were perfectly normal for someone to show up in the middle of a hurricane without notice.

"ah, hai(affirmative/yes)! Is um… is Yoh-kun… here?"

"He's out"

"O-out? In…" Tamao turned to look outside of the furyoku bubble. As if on cue, a shopping cart was propelled by the wind to roll down the street and crash _through_ someone's fence.

"He'll be back later"

"But, but… my readings said Yoh-kun would be in danger, I came to warn… what if it's the hurricane?"

"That's nothing new"

"But he…"

"Go take a bath" _She'll hyperventilate if she keeps thinking about this. He'll be... fine. Of course he will. Even if I wanted to look for him... which I don't, we'll become sick, and leave the house empty. That's more dangerous than anything else right now. Yoh coming home injured to an empty house.  
_

Tamao's little pink (red? pink-red?) ghost let itself be known "Alright! I feel so dirty, being put in a trashcan lid…" he sent a glare towards Tamao.

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_Author's Corner_

OMG. Even writing fanfiction takes research. Hang on, people that want something more serious. It'll get to that eventually, I'm sure.


	4. Chapter 4: Acute Hysteria

_Chapter 4_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

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Anna was drinking tea in front of the TV. She had prepared a new batch for herself and Tamao. After all, she would not have it said that she was a bad hostess. _Guests are rare. But then, the only guests we ever had were Tamao and the Asakuras. Yoh's freeloading friends on the other hand… Plenty of those._

_Hmm, It is strange that Tamao would come here today, on the date that I've erased from the world, but does she know? No, coming here through a hurricane... she'd only even consider that for Yoh._

The sound of a sliding door pulled Anna from her thoughts. _Hm? Yoh's back.__ Even the "freeloaders-come-to-visit" would have knocked._ It was a smug thought, but only mildly smug (Anna can be quite mild when not yelling, slapping, or summoning shikigami).

Yoh was leaning against the door frame smiling goofily with a well and thuroughly soaked box of batteries in-hand. Scratch marks, _(did he meet a cat… outside in a hurricane?)_ bite marks, _(…and a dog?)_ scrapes, cuts, and small pieces of foliage adorned him. His clothes were muddy, his hair… _(why… is there a crab? And how… did it get into his hair?) _Every breath was a visible struggle. His eyes looked like they wanted to close, and his body looked like it wanted to collapse. Anna took the sight in stride.

"Are… the (wheeze) Ch- (cough) Ch- (wheeze) Cheese… burgers done?"

And that is all Yoh managed to get out before his weight-seals kicked in, increased the weight oppressing Yoh, and sent him face-first into the floorboards.

Soon after, a frantic, still towel-clad Tamao rushed onto the scene. For various reasons, Anna typically didn't crash things unless Yoh was around.

"Yoh-kun!" Seeing a mud-covered, waterlogged Yoh's back that didn't seem to be moving underneath the rubble of floorboards he had crashed through, Tamao's frantic-ness increased to even more drastic heights. If Anna had been looking anything other than characteristically stoic, Tamao might have completely lost it.

"Hmm, the fall stunned the crab. I'm going to put it in a pot."

"Wh-what! What about Yoh-sama!" The crab was so unimportant.

_Yoh comes first_

Yoh had _always _come first.

Anna was already heading for the kitchen. Tamao was over-reacting. As long as Yoh was home, he would survive. Why? He just would. It had always been like that. It was only when he got out of sight or onto some "help the friend, or stranger, or enemy, or animal, or unspecified" escapade that he somehow managed to get himself into strange, borderline-ridiculous situations that often included mortal-peril.

Anna came back to the scene of Tamao having just given up trying to pull Yoh out of the hole he made in the floor. Somehow becoming even more frantic than before, Tamao moved on to desperately trying to heat Yoh up. Anna tried to keep calm. _She's not thinking straight. She'd never normally rub there anyway but… damnit, that part's **mine**!_ (wow, Anna mental-swears)_ Must… not… **kill**. _Anna had never used an animalistic, menacing growl before in her life, it was undignified, and _far _below her, but Tamao just wasn't stopping and she suddenly didn't care.

Tamao was crying, why wasn't Yoh waking up? He hadn't moved, and she'd burned what was left of her furyoku without budging him so much as an inch. She was trying to rub heat into Yoh now. _He's so cold._ She tried to remove his soaked clothes, but she couldn't budge those either. Distantly, her frazzled mind pointed out that she needed to get Yoh dry. And so her mind switched from repeating "warm Yoh" to repeating "dry Yoh". Some corner of her mind registered Anna's animalistic growl, but that didn't factor into helping Yoh, and was thus never brought to fore. Poor, hysterical Tamao.

In accordance to her new mission of "dry Yoh", Tamao utilized the most classic of classic drying tools.

Her towel.

Really, if her mind was in the state to recognize the repercussions of rubbing Yoh's body vigorously with a towel, while herself being naked… she probably would have screamed her lungs out and fainted. (at least he fell into the ground face-first, can you imagine if she were rubbing his front?) Advanced Hysteria is a funny thing.

Anger had been a useful tool for Anna, but very rarely would she actually succumb to rage—to let it control her actions. But after Tamao took that towel off…

If Anna had any less restraint, Tamao would have been dead right there.

Tamao's mind, frazzled and disjointed, was not capable of much. But then, her entire mind was focused on Yoh and so, a concept formed. Yoh was still cold, Tamao was still warm. Tamao could give Yoh her own warmth until she was the one icy cold and not moving, and Yoh was the one still warm. It seemed like a wonderful concept.

_Travelers die in hurricanes all the time._ The part of Anna that had been violently restraining herself from killing Tamao had stopped cold when the guest threw her body on top of Yoh and proceeded to… rub. That previously resisting part of her joined into the bloodlust without second thought. Anna didn't even know she was snarling, or moving, she just was.

"(cough) itai!(ouch/that hurts) Hot…" The burning sensation on his back was enough to startle Yoh back awake. (differences in temperature affect the amount of heat transferred, more details at the bottom)

Tamao stopped, but Anna kept going. Yoh being awake? So what? She never thought he would die once he reached back. All she saw was Tamao's impending death, and red… she saw lot's of red.

In rising, Yoh staggered forwards slightly. And this sudden movement proved to be enough to send his forehead crashing into that of his fiancée. The weight seals, still being on, meant that while this was a relatively small movement, it was uncontrolled and more than enough force transferred into Anna's head to knock her out. The laws of physics saved Tamao's life that day. (confused? Look to the bottom)

Tamao stopped what she was doing, Yoh-kun was awake! She cried happily and glomped him, crying nothing but "Yoh-kun!" and "You're awake!" She still hadn't noticed Anna, but her mind was slowly coming down from hysteria, and her vision would probably expand to notice things other than Yoh's health soon. Poor Tamao.

"Tamao? Hey... (cough) wh…(cough) where's…(wheeze) your clothes?"

Tamao stood stunned, her mind was finally fit to process that her towel was off, leaving her… and while pressing into Yoh's chest… Yoh always wore that shirt unbuttoned…

Tamao screamed her lungs out and fainted (ah, that was foreshadowed, actually).

"Huh?" Now Yoh was confused, cold, wet, hungry, injured, exhausted, and had two unconscious girls to deal with. Everything up to the unconscious girls was familiar territory… which has been blown to the extreme, but after that?

Being exhausted, Yoh wanted to get those weight-seals off but… that required Anna and he'd probably get slapped when she woke up. He'd worked too hard to have her not angry at him today to give up now. He also wanted some food, but waking a naked Tamao up (that situation still confused him) would, in all likelihood, probably _also_ get him slapped.

He supposed he should at least cover Tamao, so he draped the towel on the ground over her, a difficult task with numb and unresponsive hands, and left to look for a change of clothes.

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_Explanation corner (OMG, I can't believe I have to make a whole corner for it)_

Why did Yoh feel burned by just Tamao's body? Simply put, heat energy travels between objects more quickly when the temperatures are farther apart until the point where both objects have the same temperature. So you can get the same burning sensation from being really cold and touching something warm, as you can get from being warm and touching something hot (Yoh must have been _really _cold. How did he survive? He's a shaman, he… er… just… hmm, I'll get back to you on that). Similarly, this means that Tamao, would have to have been loosing heat at a similarly painful rate, but I suppose she was beyond caring at that point.

Next…

Why did a simple stumble have enough force to render Anna unconscious? Yoh's training weight-seals-things are active so, as the name implies, there is a weight that is constantly oppressing Yoh. Since this weight is "tagged on" to Yoh, we can consider Yoh's body heavier and harder to move. Therefore, even a small natural drop can have enough force to, for example, create a huge splash in a puddle, or knock an itako unconscious. It's the difference between hitting someone with a stick or hitting someone with a sledgehammer.

You know, this'll be the first fic. I've seen that gets an "M" rating because it requires at least rudimentary Physics… omg

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_Reviewer Corner (OMG x 2, I've invented two corners in just one chapter)_

Thanks to **rumia **for the info on how Yoh and Anna get engaged in the Japanese version, as well as the info on where Yoh's hous is… sort of (It's Funbari Inn, so the city must be Izumo, I think)

Also, thanks to **yohxanna4ever** (nice name) for his/her view on what the Halo Bump actually is. (it seems like a topic of debate, actually) Perhaps Halo Bump is a flexible move? Maybe just an energy-charge-on-the-sword kind of thing? I'm still not completely sure… but it's a good idea, so I'll probably just go with changing it into that

And my first reviewer **HaloGirl**, and the only person to add me to their "favorites" list seems to have abandoned me, shame on her. Eaveryone! Point and Sneer at the deserter! (sorry, you see, humor is my way of dealing with rejection. I didn't mean it HaloGirl!)

Lastly... well, the review actually came in _after_ I finished this chapter sooo... I'm only putting this in as I fix some errors...Thanks to **pendulumxswing**, whoseems to be an accomplished Shaman King author, and a vigorous supporter of Ren x Pillica(Pirika) for answering a whooole bunch of questions! Trully, thou art an accomplished Shaman King writer, for thy knowlage is vast and... knowlegable...

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_Author's Corner (OMG x 3 is it just me, or do the footnotes just keep getting longer?)_

Phew! Well, let's see… with this one… I should jump straight up to 6000… hmmm...

AWSOME!


	5. Chapter 5: Nightly Musings

_Chapter 5_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

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Anna woke up quite late, she noted, as the neon numbers "1:12" flashing silently on the alarm clock she had confiscated from Yoh testified. It really was the only sensible thing to do, confiscating the clock… Because really, if Yoh could sleep through an earthquake, (it was slightly unsettling that he had managed that) what hope did a lowly alarm clock stand? Only Anna herself could get Yoh awake satisfactorily early enough for training (early for Anna means: too early for normal people, which is another way of saying: an inventive form of torture for Yoh…). In an uncharacteristic surge of concern, Anna had set the clock slow by an hour, so that theoretically, Anna would wake up _later than necessary_ and in turn, wake up Yoh later than necessary. 

AN: (_later than necessary_ for Anna means that this concern was brought about when Yoh sleep-walked on the way to school… and got hit by a truck, a car, and a herd of buffalo(…?). It wasn't much of a concern for Anna at the time, it was actually quite good training, really. However, Anna didn't like the idea of being late for class or slowing the traffic with a make-shift speed-bump. It was important to respect the law, after all.)

But that piece of info aside, Anna was having a serious issue as she stared up at the ceiling. As she became more awake, so too, did her memories of the events prior to being knocked unconscious. _Yoh… I need to scold him, still. The Baka. Me and Tamao… _

Anna paused in that train of thought. _Well this is new, it seems like I want to kill Tamao, how odd. Has an emotion been planted somehow? No… no, I really do hate Tamao. Hum, I never thought I'd see the day… Oh right, she was touching…_

**_Tamao! I will bind her spirit to a gas-station toilet!_** Now, for those of you lucky souls that have never seen a gas-station toilet… Just assume that it's really, really bad. Also, for those of you even _luckier_ souls that have seen a _good_ gas-station toilet… Rest assured that all good gas-station toilets eventually become bad gas-station toilets. (scary!) (oh, and I henceforth dub that "Joseph's first law of evil-inevitability")

Before she could rip the bed sheets off and go "man-thief" (Tamao! We're very disappointed in you! ) hunting, she saw red in the corner of her eye, stopping her short out of sheer surprise

AN: (yes, Anna was surprised. No, no, it's not OOC as long as her outwards appearance holds less feeling than a blank wall)(how can less felling than a blank wall be possible? It's explained in… well… the _Explanation-corner_, of course)

A red bandana.

_He wouldn't dare…_ Slowly, she reached up to touch where her bandana should be. Sure, she had been asleep, but Yoh valued his life too much to remove _any_ article of clothing from Anna's being. And sure enough, her own bandana was still in place.

Then who's was this? She stared at it for a time, as if forcing it to explain itself but the bandana remained impassive, shimmering innocently in the moonlight.

She considered just leaving it there and returning to the task of binding pink-haired, two-faced, promiscuous (if you don't know what this means, you definitely aren't going to hear it from me) tramp of a guest that she used to refer as simply Tamao. But no, she was an Kyoyama Anna, and she was better than that. Now that she regained her cool (Ice-Princess Anna returns!), it was easy to see that Tamao had completely lost it back then. The sight of a Yoh she deemed "close to death" had driven her into hysterics that could most probably qualify for partial insanity.

And Anna had gone berserk. That was troubling; she would have to deal with whatever caused her to loose control before trying to call any more spirits from heaven or hell. That would put a dent in the training schedule.

_It's getting harder, and harder to deal with Yoh. _She let loose a sigh, and flopped back onto the bed. _My "gift" is supposed to be worth this? Because of that, I can't let Yoh too close... I have to reach the point where I'm strong enough to get close before... these emotions that I can't crush break loose. I need to distance myself for a while… A visit to the Asakura compound, perhaps. _A frown. _I don't want to leave Yoh with **her**._ The afore mentioned "her" being Tamao. She couldn't blame Tamao for her semi-sane actions of desperation, but the years had been good to Tamao's… physique. And Anna's more feminine instincts (yes, she has those, too) were screaming for drastic action.

Previously mentioned feminine instincts were promptly squashed by Anna and no-one but she… and probably Yoh would ever know they were even there.

To be unecessarily honest, she would probably only get worse if she visited the Asakura compound without Yoh.

_I can use the 108 beads, but I **am** a "gifted" so it isto be expected, after all. I have the power for the beads, but I've never lacked in power._ It was true; Anna's itako powers were exceptionally advanced. Truly, she could be called "gifted" with a strength in her art matched by none throughout recorded history.

That was exactly what kept her away from Yoh.

She simply had too much power to control.

Anna needed to be independent, to be perpetually cold and unfeeling during a ritual. For itakos are spirit _mediums_. Without an iron-clad control of her own emotions, Anna could easily lose control of her own powers.

The demons of hell were always thirsting for a breath of fresh air.

And they were damn perceptive as well. They knew her by name now and every time she banished some miserable specter, they would make promises of everything a mortal could want. And when that failed, which it _always_ did they would gather; throwing any and all forms of insults and fearsome images they could muster.

Anna was quite popular in hell.

She was the only itako alive with such a naturally large amount of power that it would remain so difficult to control.

She had more, and more trouble shaking the demon-crafted images away recently. And finally, she lost it. A flinching of fear had almost cost her everything. Only two had escaped, but they headed straight for _Yoh_.

She didn't want to think about that day, she _hated _that day. She hated _herself_ that day. It wasn't normal for her to feel like that, but...

It... it was all her fault And in the end, she _was _a monster, and _dangerous_.

So they were right, they were _all_ right. It was so horrifyingly (even for Anna) close. And unbidden, those very voices, voices that she had left far behind her, never once looking back, the ones she hadn't heard in so _very_ long... they came back.

And for what seemed like hours, Anna could do nothing but lie there and listen to the proclamations of what she was, and what she had always been. _"_A _monster_, a _danger_, and a mistake of her parents and of nature _itself"_. The voices became stronger and more plentiful, more sinister and wounding than _any_ demon of hell. She knew the words by heart, but this time… it was hard, so hard… not to agree with them.

"Yoh" it was soft, and _pleading_. The number of times Anna Kyoyama begged for _anything_ could be counted on one hand and from number two onwards, they were all just for Yoh.

"Please… _please_! _Yoh!_" But it was soft, far too soft and shaken to even reach through a paper wall.

But she felt his presence anyway, from the… bandana?

She snatched it and held it close. And suddenly, the voices had nothing left to say. _It feels… just like Yoh_. _This…_ and she laughed. A small, tired, and relived laugh. The voices were wrong, all wrong and they knew it. _You really were tired then, Yoh?... Advanced furyoku materialization, where did you even learn that? I suppose… because you have no money to buy something with, you wove me a bandana… out of furyoku? What… what a stupid reason to tire yourself out every night behind my back. You've been doing this for a week or so, then to get the furyoku to this density.  
_

And for the first time, she noticed the note lying on the bed sheets. _Are you going to explain how you found out which date it was?... I don't belive it. Only Yoh could do something impossible like finding the right date, and then say just: "happy birthday Anna!" and sign his name. Oh, there's writing on the back, too… "phew, I just made it in time. The clock said 11:58 Ann-chan" _

_You… were even late for something like that. Two minuets more, and I wouldn't have accepted your stupid present. How horribly lazy..._

And then, something occurred to her.

"Baka-Yoh, the clock is an hour slow"

But she didn't let go.

* * *

_Explination Corner_

How can Anna's face have less feeling than a blank wall? That one's easy. What many people fail to realize is exactly how amazing a blank wall can be. For instance, on a nice, blank wall, you can _imagine_ things upon it, or plan things to put on it, or perhaps even remember all the good times that that wall has shared with you. Additionally, if you feel a strong emotion when looking at a blank wall, you will, miraculously, stand a chance of transposing your feelings _onto_ the wall. However, if you were to look long and hard at Anna's face, you could not _possibly_ imagine anything with it, you would also get slapped. This inability to imagine anything is because unlike a wall, Anna's face can only go through three basic functions (to common knowledge): Nothing, Smirk, and Anger. Also, unlike a wall, if you were to say, win a million dollars when standing besides Anna's face you could not honestly say that you have shared a good time with Anna. And if you feel a strong emotion when looking onto Anna's face, you will be slapped, not really giving you the time necessary to transpose your feelings onto her face.

* * *

_Author's Corner _(this one never stops being funny)_  
_

That one… was so difficult to do. Seriously. I'm not really satisfied, but meh, oh well. I may make this an "alternate, more dramatic" parallel if people think it sucks too much and go on with something much less... well... dramatic, really

Oh, also… something occurred to me….

Now, there's the Explanation Corner (which, actually, seems to not show signs of becoming un-useful any time soon), the Review-response corner (which wasn't used today. But it remains undeniable that it _does_ exist), and finally this, the Author's Corner (yay, me!). And now, even though it seems that absolutely _none _of my readers really like Physics _at all_, I would venture to say that everyone that decides to read this far can (hopefully) be confident in their addition of 1-digit numbers. Therefore, hopefully we can all agree that, if you add all the corners that I've created, you will count three corners (1+1+1 equals 3). Now, I was just thinking on this and I thought that hey, this fanfic was conceived and plotted by my mind.

That creates a bit of a problem

Because really, what kind of person has three corners in their mind? An insane person, it would seem to most. And, especially as a fan fiction writer, who am I to judge the perceptions of the public?

In addition, it would also seem that my work (the creation of my mind) confuses pretty much everyone. And really, what is more confusing than the mind of a madman?

So there. I have, using the infallible (cannot lie) laws of science, proven that beyond the question of a doubt, I myself am in fact, insane.

Having said that, we must also assume that any reader(you) that can understand the explanation of a certifiably insane person(me) without, by this time, experiencing the unmistakable feeling of your mind twisting to the point where you become a human vegetable (incapable of thought) must also, therefore, be insane.

The advice I (insane person) would give you would be to therefore, seek professional help.

Thank you (also quite insane person or human vegetable) for your time.


	6. Side Story 1a: Anna PWN3S!

_Side Story: Demon-slayer Yoh! (Part 1)_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

WARNING: This chapter is part one of a two-part side-story! Yaaay!

SECONDARY WARNING: Weeeel, there's some… (ahem) hell references, since Anna is supposed to be able to "Call spirits from heaven, or banish them to hell" sooooo… If it, I don't know… offends you or creaps you out or something (I totally understand, really), please don't read. It's not really crucial anywhays (hence, it's a side-story).

Time to earn that "Action/Adventure" categorization, Whooooo!

* * *

_We are in flashback sequence, people  
_

It was a quiet morning, the serenity of nature only being broken by the melodious chirping of birds (although really, bird chirping can actually get pretty annoying). The Funbari Inn was at peace. (Yoh's house! It was a haunted Inn before they bought it, remember? Now it's a haunted house!)

The Inn had been at peace a lot recently. With the shaman fight postponed, all of Yoh's friends had returned to their respective homes for intensive personal training. It had become clear in the final stretches of the tournament that the only remaining challengers worth note were each other, and Hao. And Hao was gone, vanquished by Yoh's wielding of the net furyoku of those shamans that remained alive. They never even found his body, which, the shaman council had deduced, had been burned to less than dust when Hao died and his own Oversoul, now unsustained, had backfired.

They visited sometimes, his friends. Ren and Ryo having their own transportation (I wish I had my own planes), Horohoro often visiting with his sister (who looked to Anna for training advice, much to Horohoro's dismay), Chocolove was the least seen, as he didn't have a motorcycle, airplane, Oversoul-ed snowboard, or anything else. Besides, Chocolove was busy refining his _jokes_ as well as his power (thank god!). Faust, of course, had opened a clinic in Funbari (haha, Faust is Anna's slave!), not daring to leave Anna lest his beloved Eliza be returned to heaven. Besides, he liked Yoh and Manta, they were his friends, and he really hadn't had a home to return to, anyway.

Anna and Yoh stood on the dirt-street in front of the Inn.

"Wight Increase!" And at Anna's command, Yoh suddenly felt that simply standing around was enough training for today.

"Aw, c'mon Anna, you did that yesterday!"

"And?"

"It's so heavy! I'm going to collapse just standing here!" Yoh knew he was being childish, he knew that even his voice sounded childishly whining. But this was too much!

"No, you're going to do your laps"

"But…"

"I know what I'm doing, now go."

"No, you know what you're making _me _do! You're not doing anything!" Oh crap, that was a bad move. Yoh could swear the temperature dropped.

"... Did you say something, Yoh?"

"Ah, I said… I'll be off now, Anna!" Resigned, and slightly fearful, Yoh ran off for his morning training.

Anna watched him leave, fighting the urge to smirk at her PWN-age (pwn means own, or total domination in online gaming) of Yoh.

She frowned slightly when she felt the presence behind her. "What do you want?" she asked, sounding annoyed but not bothering to turn and face the six trench-coat wearing figures behind her.

"Our… team" the most visibly-scarred, biggest, and gruffest of the bunch -most likely thier leader- spoke "was unable to partake in the Shaman Fight, unfortunately"

Anna turned to face them now "So you failed the preliminaries, then". That seemed to hit a nerve with the leader

"We're stronger now than we were then! And besides…" he added, with a slightly sinister smirk forming "strength is relative. When the Shaman Fight is resumed, there will have to be replacements for the shamans that have… retired and we plan win this time"

Yes, the Great Spirit had been very quiet on the issue of the Shaman Fight for some time, but the recent news from Dobie Village was that the shamans Hao had sent his spirit to feed on would have to be replaced. So that's what this was about, they must have been very far away if Yoh hadn't sensed them, perhaps using a telescope of some sort and waiting for their chance

"So, you want to 'remove' Yoh since none of you can face him one-on-one." That was actually quite convenient; since they weren't all talk, each one seemed to reach quite a noteworthy level of power above most shamans. If she could get Yoh back here, increase his weights again, and get these strangers to all attack him, she would have a decent after-jog workout. And Yoh's group tactics needed work; he was becoming dependant on that "Grand Halo Blade" technique of his.

"'Remove' him? Do you think we're going to fight him?" The leader asked amusedly, his followers seemed slightly nervous around that idea. "We're not fools, we did our homework" and out of his trench-coat, the figure pulled a folder and idly flipped through. "Only reckless fools or idiots directly attack a Double-Medium user. Much less when that shaman channeled enough furyoku to take on the infamous Hao Asakura" He scoffed and threw the file at her feet. "In the best case scenario, only four of us have to die."

_You did your homework? You get an "F" for it then, if you don't even know that Yoh doesn't kill._ "Then leave." She stated simply, and turned to walk back inside. Her soaps were on soon, and if these relatively strong, yet still stupid shamans weren't going to fight, what use were they?

"I'm afraid it's not quite that simple" The leader shot back, and Anna turned to see him smirking at her. His followers seemed completely different, confident and unshakable, now that they knew they weren't going after Yoh.

_Yoh's reputation certainly improved_. She hazarded an idea at what they were planning, something incredibly more foolish than fighting the mercy-filled Yoh "Are you here to use me as a hostage?" Her soon-to-be opponents all began to smirk victoriously, as if they even stood a chance. _Their stupidity is astounding._

"Oh we know you're some kind of prodigy-itako. Maybe you can even stop an Oversoul from forming, but that still leaves the odds five to one"

"You need to go back to elementary school and learn addition again, idiots" Anna stated simply, this was actually mildly amusing. "It's obviously five-" and here she bound both the leader and who, she guessed was the second in command "-to three". She snapped her fingers, and her two trusty Shikigami(those red and blue monster-looking guys she calls) appeared and begun to beat the living bejeses(not really a word, but part of a saying) out of the remaining trench-coated idiots before they could get so far as "spirit form!" One, as it happened, was sent airborne in her direction by Zenki (the blue Shikigami, I think). A lesser person might have dove to safety, or screamed. Yoh would have tried to catch the poor guy, but Anna just slapped him into the stratosphere with her Legendary Right (Anna's super-slap is totally worthy of being an official battle technique, so I'm underlining it )

With four of her 'assailants' on the ground, one just now reaching the height of his slap-induced flight, and two shielded off from touching their spirits by her beads, the fight was over. (Funny thing about the 108 beads, it's super strong, but what it's not known for is that it's really, really, long) And some people would probably not be able to use various limbs again, from the looks of what her Shikigami left behind.

She was about to have her Zenki and Kohki send the intruders to meet the one still in the stratosphere, when she noticed a spirit trying to break through her beads and to the leader. _An Oni-spirit, I don't believe this…_ Truly a testament to their stupidity, Oni-spirits didn't know loyalty, and were famous for their unreliability. With a flick of her wrist, she wrapped the beads around the offending spirit as well, while releasing the two shamans previously entrapped to her Shikigami to send flying with the rest of the trench-coated fools.

AN:(Yeah, I decided that Anna can now wrap her beads around shamans to keep their spirits from them. Hah, they should have Oversoul-ed sooner, or train to the point where they can physically break the 108 beads necklace. What? It's just a neacklace, of course they can break it! But… _they_ didn't know that! Hahahahaha! They would have just been PWN3D with slaps, anyway. Maybe they didn't break the beads because they found out it's safer there!)

_I'm going to miss my soap._ Was the last thought before she dismissed her Shikigami and started the ritual to carry out her duty as an itako. She needed to be undisturbed for this.

Of course, she was sending the Oni to hell.

As she got ready to send the Oni through, she found the voices of hell demons invading her mental space. Actually, that wasn't accurate, technically it was Anna that was invading _their_ space, but it was nonetheless quite rude to waltz right up to Anna's extended consciousness and start chatting so _amicably_.

_Yes, yes. _Anna thought_. Rule the world, eternal life, and so on, and so forth. These things can be more monotonous than that History class Yoh's always sleeping in. _

_Honestly, I'm not sure their even changing the words they use. Infinite power? Whatever._

Finally, it was ready and she set about banishing the vile Oni down a one-way tunnel to eternal damnation. The sugary-sweet voices of, what turned out to be some of the ugliest things she'd ever seen (and she'd seen Yoh's literature homework. Practice your handwriting Yoh!) retreated. At least, it could be assumed that they were ugly. Really, she hadn't bothered to look lately, ever since they started shifting forms to look like the highly disturbing, fear and nightmare-inducing image of the Asakura grandparents making out (eeeeeeew!).

Now that the Oni was finally tucked safely away in some unimportant part of hell, Anna decided to get the _hell_ out of there (hahaha, sory, I couldn't resist, complain and I'll scrap it.). Of course, closing the channel to hell was even harder than opening it.

This is where the second wave of demons, the less ugly and more powerful or beautiful (demons can be beautiful, too! Beauty is power, just ask Tomb-Raider's Laura Croft!) came out. Although, she hadn't looked at these for some time, either, ever since one of them transformed into a replica of Anna that actually had figure with... (No, forget it, I flat-out refuse to continue that, just fill it in yourselves!). The jeers about how ugly, and unattractive, or how weak, and in need of protection (are they kidding? Legendary Right!) she was fell on –for the most part– deaf ears. A very, very mild feeling of self-resentment arose, and was squashed, in the span of a mili-second. On the whole, things were going very smoothly compared to her other recent attempts until a singular voice rose above the others:

"_How long can that Yoh wait on one such as you? Even **he** must become weary of you... And, being such a monstrosity as yourself ..." _

_"You know, would it be unusual if the mortals get sick or fearful of you and break the engagement?" _

There, right there she felt fear. A small fear, but it was enough. Her tightly reined power fluxuated(increasing in one place, and decreasing in another) in response to her sudden emotion, and the one-way tunnel that she was closing wasn't as "one-way" anymore.

* * *

_Author's Corner_

Whooo, only one corner today, yay! This one… let me tell you guys, this one was just oodles of fun to write. Like… oodles (Legegdary Right!) one day, I'll have her put in a Phantom Left! And maybe I'll invent a whole new slap, like Atomic Slap-Buster! Or Inescapable Twin-Slap! Or even… Destruction Millenia Slap! Or Terminal Velocity Slap!

Sheer awesomeness.

Anna PWN3S.

Oh, and...

Oh yeah, and I think you should all know that **I am a n00b**! I bet you didn't know, but this is (depending on how you look at it) my first or second fan fiction! I would have told you all sooner, but the info's on my author's page anyway, and I didn't want to scare people away (goofy-grin)


	7. Side Story 1b: DemonSlayer Yoh!

_Side Story: Demon-slayer Yoh! (Part 2)_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

WARNING: This chapter is part two of a two-part side-story! Yaaay!

SECONDARY WARNING: Weeeel, there's some… (ahem) hell references, since Anna is supposed to be able to "Call spirits from heaven, or banish them to hell" sooooo… If it, I don't know… offends you or creaps you out or something (I totally understand, really), please don't read. It's not really crucial anywhays (hence, it's a side-story).

**Many terms were used to refer to the tunnel Anna opened between Hell and Earth, just so you know (ex. gate, tear)  
**

Time to _really_ earn that "Action/Adventure" categorization, Or… try, anywhays. Whooooo!

* * *

Yoh was tired. 

In fact, he contemplated the possibility that Anna was plotting to kill him with sheer exhaustion, so that she could summon him back from heaven and boss him around even _more_ using her 108 beads. But then he remembered, shamans couldn't be brought back from the other side. Something about their integration into the afterlife being too perfect or something. Ojiisan's lectures were too hard to _not_ fall asleep in.

"Ow!" Being distracted from his thoughts, Yoh had run into one of the many trees of the forest he was currently in. _Am I even still in Funbari?_ If Yoh didn't stop musing about the unfairness of his situation (which was a great unfairness indeed) he would likely run into the cliff face to his right.

He hadn't even been running for an hour and he was seriously considering switching to slower, less lung-busting, muscle-training pace instead of running like a madman high on pixie-sticks(those little sugar packet snacks that are seriously rare and out of style now). He remembered how this little exercise was dumped on him.

"You're going for a morning jog, Yoh" Anna had said, and proceeded to detail a route that took her half an hour to _explain_. Yoh now had several maps, because the route simply did not fit on just one. He had actually tried jogging for a while, but in order to get back in time (she had threatened his precious CD collection, so he was _definitely_ going to be back in time) he had to jog so fast that it was more of a mad dash than anything else.

His love for Bob's music were all that gave him strength to keep going (totally plutonic love, he _was_ engaged. And marriage to inanimate audio tracks wasn't exactly an option.)

But man, he was tired.

Did she _have_ to increase the weight right before throwing him into this marathon?

_Well, it's like they say. Whatever else happens to me today, it can't **possibly **get any worse than this._

Poor Yoh, if only Anna had let him go to the movies more often, he would have known that "at least it can't get worse" was one of the dumbest and most dangerous things to say, ever.

Yoh felt it approach, but really, he was just too tired to dodge at the moment, and let the red-blur dive-bomb (a dive from the sky in a straight line, like an arrow.) him into the ground.

"Hmm… the mortal didn't go 'splat', how very odd…"

"Itai!" Yoh dragged himself up to face the… _wait, isn't that…? Haven't seen one of those in a while._

"Asakura Yoh?" asked the demon, his voice somehow trying to match the brutality of his appearance.

"Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you" Yoh was grinning on the outside, and silently hoping that the demon was talkative. He was really tired at the moment.

_Hmm, Anna says that I should list my options in these situations so…Option 1: Run, be slowed down by my weights, and die. _Yoh didn't like that one. _Option 2: Negotiate, fail, end up running, and **then** die._ Now that wasn't much of an improvement. _Option 3: Tell him that I'm not actually Yoh and point him in some other direction, he kills me just for fun, heads off in that direction, and kills some other people just for fun as well. _Right, why did the options only seem to get worse? _Option 4: Sell my soul to the King of Hell?... That's not a fun idea at all. _The whole "list your options" thing only seemed good for making people hopelessly depressed, apparently. For the life of him, Yoh couldn't really figure out how that was supposed to help. _Option 5: Fight, with the weights on, while tired, without Amidamaru, while hoping that I can find a weapon somewhere and quite possibly end up dieing… _Yoh mentally shrugged. If it was the only way, then there wasn't a point in being angst-y (angst-y: sort of intentionally sad and pessimistic… I think?) about it. Well, looks like that's what he was doing…

Yoh was quite grateful that the demon _was_ indeed talkative, especially with regards to the "master plan" that he was allegedly now a key part of, or whatever. Yoh was about as rested as he figured he'd ever get with the amount of weight pressed on him, and it was time for action.

His opponent was the size of Ryo, with claws, teeth, the ability of flight, and both superior strength and speed. _I really wish I could take these weight-seals off._ Yoh needed a plan, a daring tactic that could turn the battle in his favor. He looked around._ Ah, with that, I can win._

The demon was brought out of his speech mid-rant "Ow! Did you… just throw a…_rock_ at me, mortal?" The demon seemed more stunned at the prospect than anything else.

Yoh shrugged easily "well, we're fighting, right?"

"There _is _no fight, foolish mortal, a demon like myself is more than enough to simply slaughter y- Ow!"

_Hey, I'm winning. Strength and speed isn't everything. After all, Intelligence counts too._

"Fool, I will enjoy rending your body limb from limb. And after I show that girl your severed head and her pathetic grief will run her power wild! The demons of hell will have full access to the world and _finally_ r- Ow!"

"Hmmm, out of ammo, huh?" Yoh mused aloud. Only pebbles were left in the area. With another mental shrug, Yoh bend down to look for any particularly projectile-worthy pebbles for demon-slaying.

That did it.

With a horrifying roar of indignation, the demon dashed forwards at breakneck speeds. The foolish human's rocks had done nothing but ensure a more painful and messy death. The demon was confident that there would be no escape, that no mere human defense could possibly stop him. He considered simply plowing head-first _through _the mortal with his mighty charge, and his anger-filled mind found that it liked that idea very much.

_Now!_ And with that, Yoh quickly rolled out of the way of the now demon-turned-bullet, which promptly crashed headfirst into the Cliffside behind him.

_Hmmm… that'll probably be really funny after I check on Anna._ Yoh actually felt a little sorry for the hell-demon, but then he remembered that it was pure, concentrated evil and conceitedness that had tried to squash him.

Yoh turned to dash back to the Inn, but was soon stopped cold by a low, menacing growl filled with pain and rage. _Eh? What's his head made out of? This isn't good, Anna hasn't shown up, so she must still be trying to close the tunnel. I don't have **time**._ Out loud, he said "Oh well" and "It'll work out somehow" (Haha, no one can say my Yoh is OOC!)

The demon rushed forwards, still growling in fury in an attempt to impale the impudent human on a clawed arm.

Yoh's eyes narrowed slightly as he sidestepped the attack. _Fast._ He watched as the clawed hand tore a hole through the tree behind where Yoh was. _I'm lucky the trees stop him from using flight to his advantage._ Indeed, if the demon were to try another dive-bomb right now, Yoh wouldn't have trouble dodging and have full access to a heavily disorientated demon.

The demon had given up on trying to spear the young mortal, opting instead to simply walk forwards (menacingly, of course) and stand towering over the frail flesh-bag (Yoh) intimidatingly.

_Is he trying to stun me with fear?_ That level of intimidation, while demonic and frightening in it's own right wasn't enough to phase the fiancée of "Cook the dinner **now** and make it **good**, Yoh" Kyoyama Anna. Apparently, the demon had just wanted to lull Yoh into a sense of confusion or security, or something because a clawed fist shot out with no apparent warning whatsoever. Yoh sidestepped right easily and brought his left fist into the stomach of his opponent.

The demon stood there shocked, how could a mortal react at those speeds? Even more shocking was that, despite this incredible talent, the fist that hit the demon's stomach had enough force to qualify as a poke in the ribs with a marshmallow. He was about to impale the ridiculous child on his claw, but was interrupted by Yoh slamming the follow-up fist right into the demon's face.

In a flash, the demon was up on his feet again and Yoh was forced on the defensive.

Yoh dodged a slash at his right side, only to be forced to jump backwards to avoid another slash at his left, and proceeded to spin away when the demon brought his head crashing downwards in what Yoh assumed was some kind of downwards-headbut..

_This is it!_ Yoh came out of his spin and immediately brought his right leg into an overhead axe-kick to the back of the demons head.

The crash resounded throughout the area, as Yoh's foot met directly with the back of the demons neck, and carried the aborted headbut motion into a massive collision with the ground.

Yoh observed the spider web cracks that surrounded the point of impact as he clutched his leg, which was still hurting from the sheer amount of strain he had put upon it. _The results of Anna's "trainng specials". Because of the attached weights, an axe kick can become the same as hurling a giant barbell onto someone's head._

Yoh started limping towards home, trying to work his right leg back into proper shape so he could run.

He was again stopped by a low growl. _No way._

Before he could even turn around, he was hit in the back and hurled into a tree. He looked to his enemy, who now sported one seriously messed up face that somehow managed to get a growl out of it's twisted remains of a mouth. _I think it actually became less ugly after I crashed it's head into the ground. Hell-Demons… are a lot tougher than I remember. I Need to hurry, but…_

And then he saw it.

The perfect solution.

Yoh picked up the stick just before he had to quickly dive away from another of the demon's charges.

Yoh would have been worried when the demon's charge tore the great tree it crashed into down, but this battle was already over. He had one shot: but he only needed one, anywhays. Focus. Re-inforce. See it as a wepon. Make it a wepon!

"Celestial Slash!"(Shinkuu Bataguri!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------Scene Change! (Funbari Inn)-------------------------------------------------------------------

Anna stood, stock still.

Because, in a sense, she wasn't really there.

She was busy closing a tunnel to hell, and she'd been doing this for quite a while. I fact, because she hadn't had breakfast, she was in danger of simply dehydrating if this dragged on for much longer. But the demons were trying valiantly to claw the passage open wider, wide enough to at least let through another lesser demon, so she had to keep going.

Yoh was probably having enough trouble fighting the one that slipped through already.

Of course, she was confident that Yoh would win, eventually. Even though her consciousness was mostly in the realm between this world and hell, she kept an eye out for his return. She never admitted it out loud, but having Yoh around always calmed her down. She could easily bring her emotions, and therefore the tunnel, back under control once that slacker decided to show up. _That Baka-Yoh… He'd better be careful._

…_How could this even have happened? How could I, Kyoyama Anna be fooled by such ridiculous taunts. "Yoh will change"? "Yoh will break the engagement"? That's so stupid. Yoh… Isn't even ambitious enough to seek someone better unless he's forced to. And the day he actually gives up on someone is the day that Ryu shaves his head bald. _

Anna was finally getting somewhere with the tunnel, when she was met face-to face with her heaviest regret all over again.

Yoh staggered over to Anna and stood, covered in his own blood and clutching the remains of a stick.

"Yo!"

_No._

"hehe, do you get a feeling of deja vu?"

_You idiot, that's not a joke! You…_

"I was surprised, I didn't think it could get me before I attacked… Ne, Anna what's wrong? I'm here… and… er, sort of alright. You usually snap out of it by now…"

_No one could look at you and call you alright!_

"Wow, this is just like last time, right? I should call Faust..."

_Last time never should have happened! _Anna had to struggle not to let the memories re-surface… Of when she first met Yoh. Yoh had always been stupid. Going up against a Greater-Oni, even with a 1000 year old spirit, Matamune, was a _sure _a signal of stupidity. It was her fault then, and it was her fault now. And again, he stood in front of her covered in blood, and clutching his weapon. All this time and nothing changed at all! _Damn it!_

* * *

_I decided to make my story marginally more sane(a bold and daring proposal), and spread some of the __Explination Corner throughout the story…_

Yoh&Anna's Past! For those that don't know the manga, Yoh met Anna when they were 8. At that time, she had an ability that translates to "empathy" which lets her hear the thoughts of people and stuff without even seeing them. Somehow, she seemed to pick up mostly a lot of negative thoughts. She was also filled with hate towards the world because her family didn't want her. All her accumulated hate and negativity periodically manifested into Oni. Long story short, Yoh ended up fighting a powered up, large Oni with a 1000 year old spirit that served the Asakura family, Matamune. Matamune used up all his power on the Oni, and disappeared. In the end, Yoh was standing in front of Anna covered in blood and clutching a sword in one hand.

* * *

"…" Yoh ran out of things to say. It wasn't like he ever got practice comforting Anna, normally. This was strange and difficult. _I give up, I'll do the normal "dance around the subject and pretend like nothing's going on" thing._

"Sorry. I only ran part way… I'll do the rest after lunch. You want salad again?"

Yoh headed inside, each step leaving faint tracks made of blood.

He was stopped again by the scream of his fiancée. _Okay, either Anna's lost control and another demon's escaping or she's closed the tunnel and started screaming without a reason… Yeah, it's probably another demon._ For Anna to scream on her own, she'd need to do it for some kind of emotion, and Anna avoided showing emotion like the plague.

As if on cue, a three story version of the demon he'd fought before emerged.

Yoh looked at the towering mass of evil power.

He looked at the two halves of his broken stick

He looked back at the demon

He looked back at his weight-seals, still in place, on his body, which was still bleeding.

The demon slowly raised a leg, as if to step on Yoh in the most mocking fashion.

Yoh wasn't honestly sure he could evade such a thing, so he looked at the remains of his stick again, hoping they could help him, somehow.

"Yoh-dono!"

"Oh, Amidamaru!" _Awsome! But I need to avoid being squashed… Hmm, I have a funny idea._ Yoh grabbed three leaves.

"Ko-Oni Strike!" ("Imp Strike")

Three tiny Shikigami, like his grandfather's, were sent flying as fast as their tiny little green bodies could manage. Yoh was slightly surprised the technique actually proved useful for a change.

"**MY EYES! YOU SHALL PAY IN BLOOD!**"

Yoh used the distraction to get out of stomping range.

"Ah, I made him angry"

Amidamaru stared at his master in disbelief. _How can Yoh-dono talk so easily even now? …Well, Yoh-dono is Yoh-dono. _The spirit faught the urge to shake his head ruefully,_ so I should have known. _Amidamaru smiled.

Yoh was thinking, too. _I need my mediums, but I don't have time to get them. That demon… won't just sit still and wait for me._ "Yosh(okay), then let's try this now!"

"Amidamaru! Into the stick!"

"Wh-what?.! Ah… hai"

"Into the other stick!"

And lo-and-behold. The double medium, Spirit of Sword arrives.(I'm not sure if they name it in the anime, but it's what Yoh's double medium is called in the Japanese version and manga.)

The demon was aghast, the tiny, wounded mortal had taken some sticks and a _dead_ tiny human mortal, and created a sword almost as big as himself. He screamed in outrage and slashed at the weapon. With the weapon broken, time could be taken to kill this human _slowly_.

_Bad move!_ Yoh blocked the attack, and threw his weight into the counter. A clean, vertical slice to sever what appeared to be the demon's right arm.

"**RRHRAH! MORTAL! PREPARE TO DIE!**"

_You don't have **time** to scream for my death! _Yoh twisted the sword, and aimed to slice off the demon's legs next.

"**FOOL!**" The demon jumped back (and into the dirt road outside Yoh's house) to evade. Now re-analyzing the treat of this puny mortal.

_The Spirit of Sword isn't meant for these mediums. I can't adjust the size and forcing it to keep this form is draining me of too much furyoku. At this rate, five minuets and I can't tell what will happen if I try Halo Blade when it's this unstable. Finally, weighted down like this, even holding the sword is tiring. Have to finish quickly!_ Despite his thoughts, Yoh didn't move. He held Spirit of Sword ready, for he would have to strike when his opponent did. He wasn't in any condition to chase down something so much faster than him. The demon charged.

_Too fast!_

Yoh had dodged the swipe, but even the wind pressure alone was enough to send him flying into the fence. He looked up to see the fast approaching claw of his enemy.

Yoh had barely been fast enough to block. He quickly dropped the blade out of the block and preformed a rising slash to the demon's mid-section.

The demon jumped back, but received a clanking blow across it's chest, regardless. It growled. Much as it loathed admitting, there was no way to block the mortal's blade, any defense would be simply cut through.

The demon advanced again, it's left arm slashing wildly, leaving no chance to grasp a counterattack.

Yoh turned each attack away, but it was all he could do, his back was to the fence, and each strike sill contained enough wind pressure to only push him against it harder. _This won't work! _The force of the blows were slowly starting to wear him down, it became harder and harder to get the defense up in time.

_I need some room. Amidamaru! I'm letting the Oversoul(spirit control) break! _

_Hai!_ The response from Amidamaru coming over there mental link, Yoh could tell that he had the Samurai's full support weather he understood the plan or not.

"**TOO SLOW, HUMAN!**"

Yoh deflected the swipe just enough to send him flying, rather than impale him. He had successfully let his enemy knock him to a safer distance, into the fence nearer to the street and Anna. His body, exhausted, remained slumped against the fence.

Anna was watching, but she still couldn't move. Those bastard demons were struggling harder than ever and even Anna… especially Anna couldn't feel calm when Yoh was so close to death. She could feel it, the feeling of his presence dimming. Amidamaru appeared.

"Yoh-dono!"

In response, Yoh could only cough up blood. His voice sounded strained, was even that a struggle for him? "A-Amidamaru, it's… over, I'm _sorry_"

Amidamaru was stunned, his master had never simply given up on a fight when so much was at stake "don't say that, Yoh-dono! We can still-"

"Win, I know. We _will_ win, but… I…" Yoh looked up at where he guessed Amidamaru would be.

And Amidamaru understood. "Y… Yoh-dono… I understand."

"Ah, thanks, Amidamaru." There was a pause, as Yoh pushed himself up from his seated position. The next words spoken were in a tone that Amidamaru had hoped never to have heard from his master "Afterwards, comfort Anna for me, the only way is… you'll have to tell her that I'm just unconscious. Tell her t (cough) that I'll talk to her when I wake up. Just re-assure her that I'm okay, until the gate to hell closes." The tone of a comrade resigned for death, Amidamaru had heard it far too many times in his life. Far, _far_ too many.

_NO! _Anna's mind cried out in torment. _You can't! You can't just leave me! NO, NO, NO, **NO!**_ _Yoh, Yoh! Not my Yoh! Not…my Yoh… _Anne struggled harder than she knew was possible, if she could only close the damn gate! But as much as she strived, the pain in her chest and the ice in her veins were sending her own mercurial (in this context, meaning quick to react) power to counter her every ounce of effort. She was right in front of him! That… That idiot! Did he think she was too far to hear?.! Or…

He couldn't even tell that blood had seeped into his eyes. Yoh couldn't see. She realized it as he struggled to walk past her.

Yoh spoke up. He made no attempt to make his voice sound stronger, Yoh felt no need. "You just thought it was funny to watch me die, right?" he received an arrogant sounding snort from the demon. That was all he needed, his vision had been knocked out of his eyes, but his ears worked just fine. Both him and Amidamaru could use their senses and he could pinpoint the demon.Hopefully, lack of sight wouldn't matter. "Sorry, but I can't just leave you here."

"Amidamaru! Into the stick!" Silently, Yoh thought he sounded sort of funny, considering the gravity of the situation.

"Into the other stick!"_ Even if I die, at least everything will work out. Eaveryone will be safe with this._

"Spirit of Sword!"

"**IMPOSSIBLE! YOU WERE ON THE BRINK OF DEATH!**"

"I still am!" but something was wrong, the blood loss was _finally_ catching up. Kamikaze tactic or not, the delicate, yet powerful bouncing of energy between mediums which had become almost second nature to Yoh… was causing him trouble. A crack, it was quiet, but the sound still rung in his ears. _It's breaking!_ The energy flow… he could feel it and he knew…. Spirit of Sword was going to do more than break. _This flow… the circuit will explode in on itself. _The crack extended. The explosion would wound the demon, sure, but that wasn't enough! And Anna would be…

_No, I'm still here, so everything can still work out. Where all the shamans before him recorded only explosive death when their double medium's energy went awry, Yoh could feel the problem, he completely understood exactly what was happening, and he knew that there was a chance, a small chance, that he could guide the energy to do what he needed of it. No room for hesitation._

_To throw away my life!_

Crack.

_To throw away my dreams!_

Crack!

_If it's the only way left, then I'll throw **it all** away to keep Anna and everyone safe! There is no pause to question that path!_

CRACK!

"Focus! Spirit of Sword!"

Yoh swung the terrible, increasingly volatile weapon with all his might. The final crack being guided by Yoh's own intent, he fuelled what little remained of his furyoku into channeling the massive explosion of his double medium into one tearing mass of white energy.

Whatever the demon had been planning to do became a moot-point as the screaming mass of energy tore it's considerable mass into nothing but fragments of dust in the wind.

The blinding radiance of the attack dieing down, Anna couldn't see Yoh anywhere. Until se looked down, towards the figure lying face-first in the dirt, blood beginning to pool around him. The charred remains of his two small sticks still resting in his hands.

He was probably dead, she knew. He had said he probably would be, himself, even if he hadn't known she could hear him. Looking at his body, and searching, tentatively for his presence, Anna understood that it was over. _Yoh's dead._ This was the point where she was supposed to lose all semblance of control and inadvertently rip a portal open between Hell and Earth. But she didn't _feel_ sad, or angry, or loss.

She didn't feel _Anything._ All emotion within her had died out completely. She had no views on anything, no concerns. Almost absent-mindedly, she clamped the tunnel to hell shut, it was so easy now. And it was what Yoh would have wanted. She collapsed, almost lifelessly to the ground. What purpose was there for anything?

She could not avenge Yoh. Yoh had obliterated the demon, himself. There was nothing Yoh would want her to do; all of his friends were safe now.

Shamans could not be called from Heaven, but… perhaps Yoh would become an earth-bound spirit.

She crawled over to him. Oh she could have walked, but there was no point in anything, so crawling was just as well._ No, he's not here. So… in Heaven? My Yoh… _Suddenly her eyes filled with life again. She sat up straight. Why should _Heaven _have him? She could take him back. She didn't care if he _was_ a shaman. If she tore a gate open large enough, she might be able to call him, anyway. Or, send her consciousness through the tear and find him herself. _Excellent._ A distant part of her mind weakly spoke up, of course. Saying something about how angels from heaven would escape and eradicate the planet to prevent further sins from being committed.

Honestly, even that part of her mind didn't really care about the world at this point, it was just putting the information out there.

"Yoh-kun!"

Anna distantly recognized the figure approaching. _Faust. Too late. _She wondered, distantly, if she should be angry with him for not noticing a three story tall demon and arriving faster.

Anna watched Faust analyze Yoh in a quick, and professional manner, if a little tainted by incredible worry.

"Eliza! The bandages, we have to stop the bleeding!"

_What do you mean, Yoh's already dead._

"Danna!" ("Master", sort of. Ryu uses it for Yoh... I think?)

_Ryu's always showing up randomly on that bike. I suppose… Yoh wouldn't want his friends obliterated along with the planet…_

"Ryu, give him your furyoku! 1, 2, 3, now!"

_Transferring your furyoku to a dead body won't do anything. _

"Anna?" A whisper in the wind, really, but more than enough to turn Anna's world on it's head again.

"Y-Yoh?" She didn't trust her voice farther than that. Uncharacteristically, tears of happiness silently welled in her eyes.

He had been somewhere between life and death, but Faust and Ryu had given him enough strength to chose where to go. Life was pretty interesting, and all his friends were here, so the choice was obvious. Through a brain fogged with pain, he idly considered that, since he wasn't really _alive_ he could count this as his first death. _I'm catching up to Hao_. He thought wryly. _One more, and we'll be even. Or is it two?_

"I'll finish the laps tomorrow, Anna. I'll do double, any punishment, but don't take the Bob." he whispered weakly again, attempting to ignore the pain of Faust's emergency stitch work. The last part wasn't really to let Anna know he was alright, but if he was going to live, he needed to secure the safety of his Bob CD's first.

It would sound like an odd thing for someone to say, but Anna understood. He would still be here tomorrow, and everything was going to return to normal. Anna looked at him on the ground and in severe pain, pain brought on by her own cursed existence, just like the last time. And she wondered how he could live with her in the same way as before. More importantly… "don't do that again, Yoh." _I… never want to experience that again._

"Gomen"(sory)

"Will Dana be alright, Faust?.!"

"If it's Yoh-kun… probably. Come, help me carry him to a bed."

Anna remained sitting outside for a long time, simply feeling relieved. _Don't ever do that again, Yoh._

_Owari _(end)

(Of the side-story)

* * *

_Explanation Corner (for the less difficult or essential explinations)_

Many terms were used to refer to the tunnel Anna opened between Hell and Earth, just so you know

CELESTIAL SLASH? How can Yoh use it without Amidamaru? It was originally devised and created by Amidamaru himself during life, as a way to attack opponents outside his range with a katana. "Halo Blade" was similarly a technique devised and used by Amidamaru. Yoh's body "remembers" how to perform the techniques, which is why they are possible with his Oversouls. Which is to say, Yoh knows how to do them on his own. Unfortunately, his poor, trusty stick broke in two from the force.

The oversoul shatter? I made that one up. The name could be better, but nothing comes to mind. I could use a Japanese name, which always seems cooler and more appropriate, but I'm trying to use only English names anyway. **If you have a better name for it, suggest.** An Oversoul can be broken, no big deal, but what happens when a shaman's control of a double medium. (Which I'm going to theorize bounces furyoku from one medium to the other to become "exponentially more powerful") causes the energy flow to be disrupted? Of course, it will explode! Yay! Yoh went through the "Tunnel of Tartarus" and also displayed great feats in furyoku control (ex. Spirit of Sword, Revised Spirit of Sword(the smaller one) and spontaneously deciding he'll give his spirit the ability to use two swords.) So Yoh can observe and control the flow like few other shamans could. He controlled such a rapid and volatile reaction to explode in just one direction.

* * *

_Reviewer Response Courner_

Thank you to the many "NINJA SPAM!"-ers that have reviewed. Especially the one that gave me "AWSOME NINJA SPAM!" I normally wouldn't say anything, but I'm truly touched that you find me deserving of such awesomeness (seriously).

I would also mention that by the time the last chapter was fully uploaded, someone had actually reviewed other than my friends! Therefore, **I humbly retract my previous statements**. It was mostly just a joke borne out of incredulity, anyway. _Nothing_ in this fanfiction is worth hurting anyone's feelings.

I'm sorry.

* * *

Author's Corner 

**This concludes the side story arc**. Hopefully, it will confuse a lot less people than the now-deleted side-story: "Shifty-Yoh". On an odd side note: Once again I've reached a point where my side stories amount to more words than the main story! haha.

The update was a **long time coming. Actually, the updates shall in all likelihood, continue to be so. Although, probably at least once a week, barring I say otherwise.** I finally finished watching the episodes that I had missed in the past though, and had to re-work some of the story. And you shall excuse me for the wait because it was surprisingly difficult. Fun? yes. Difficult? hell ya. For example, the damn thing is 5 000+ words! 17 pages! That may or may not be a bad thing, though. Seeing as, with so many words in one chapter, you may skim through (and I often have) and probably confuse yourself (it's just that kind of story if you skim through, I think). Still…


	8. Chapter 6: Morning After

_Chapter 6_

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, any characters, or even the background story, but I own the story I write here, of course.

**WARNING: After that delightful little side-story, which, if anyone hasn't noticed, was "that day" that Anna "almost lost everything", you may have simply forgotten exactly what was happening in the _main_ story. Here's some clips from Chapter 5, skip them if you actually remember anything from back then already: **

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_A red bandana._

_He wouldn't dare… Slowly, she reached up to touch where her bandana should be. Sure, she had been asleep, but Yoh valued his life too much to remove any article of clothing from Anna's being. And sure enough, her own bandana was still in place._

_Then who's was this?_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_**Tamao! I will bind her spirit to a gas-station toilet!**_

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_And for the first time, she noticed the note lying on the bed sheets. What do you have to say for yourself, Yoh? Just "happy birthday Anna!" and your name? There's writing on the back, too… "phew, I just made it in time. The clock said 11:58 Anna!" _

_You… were even late for something like that. Two minuets more, and I wouldn't have accepted your present, so horribly lazy..._

_And then, something occurred to her._

"_Baka-Yoh, the clock is an hour slow"_

_But she didn't let go._

_--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

**Right then, on with the show.

* * *

**Tamao woke up early-morning. Curiously, she seemed to be lying on her back, on the wooden plank-floor underneath a towel. Oh, and she didn't have any clothes on.

_What?.!_

Tamao had never blushed so hard in her life. And her face was known far and wide as routinely turning shades pinker than her hair. _Oh no, what if someone sees me?.! What will I do?.! This is horrible! A disaster! And I'm in Yoh-sama's house… _Tamao hadn't noticed when she had reverted to calling him "-sama" but then, she didn't notice much, far too absorbed in her own embarrassment was she.

**_Yoh-sama!_**Memories of the day prior flooded back to her. Yoh had… collapsed. He was had been so still, so cold…

Tamao ran franticly towards Yoh's room.

She froze in the doorway. Yoh lay still under his covers. Tamao's mind almost jumped back into her new "frantic Yoh-resurrection mode" when she noticed he was breathing evenly. Tamao let out the breath she had been holding. _Oh thank goodness, he's okay._ And actually, that was the only thought that entered Tamao's mind for the next two hours as she simply stood in the doorway, flooded with relief, and filled with a strange, warm, peaceful joy that she didn't understand while she silently watched Yoh's seemingly o.k., sleeping form.

Many people would say "What the heck is her problem? What a waste of time!" but for Tamao, whenever she would get her thought-process back online, she would look back and think about what a lucky day it must have been. She always felt so content at times like these. It was a frighteningly rare feeling for her throughout her entire life.

"(yawn)… ah, what a nice dream… eh? Oh, ohayo, Tamao-chan"

(A/N: ohayo good morning)

"E-eh?.!. A… um… o-ohayo, Yoh-sama"

"Mouuuu(geez), why is it back to –sama again?" Yoh complained. _I finally got her to switch to –kun and now It's right back to this again._

"I… but… last night…" Tamao blushed furiously

"… huh?"

"I… came to warn you, but I only made things _worse_" Tamao hesitated "And… I think Anna-san's pretty angry too"

"Anna? Nah, you just wanted to help" yes, 15 seconds into waking up, and Yoh was easygoing and wanting everyone happy.

"I mean… I, I was…. My clothes…" was it possible to faint from blushing too much? Tamao hoped so, she didn't think she could last too long in this conversation anymore.

"Oh yeah… but we've been friends since we were little, right?... more importantly, Tamao-chan…"

"y-yes?"

"maaa, but then… shouldn't you go get dressed?"

"E-eh?.!" Tamao looked down, of course, she'd never picked up the towel when madly dashing to find Yoh…

She screamed, and tried to cover her 'unmentionables' while running away so fast that her eyes, which were filled with tears of embarrassment and horror at her situation, could not see exactly where she was going. Luckily, she only crashed into a few walls, the phone, a lamp, and a door before she calmed down and jumped into her room.

_----------------------------------------scene change-----------------------------------------_

Yoh had a look on a face halfway between pain and amusement, "Ah, te,te,te,te,te…" (doesn't mean a thing, those are the sounds I make when I express pain in a laidback way, so…) he removed his hands from his ears "Tamao sure can scream loud" and then he chuckled in that way that he always does. He stretched in the way that he always did too, and dressed himself in same style of clothing he had always dressed himself in and reached for his always-there-by-the-futon, headphones.

"Eh? Headphones?" _Aw man, I misplaced them… wait, did I have them when I came home? Hmmm… no, no I didn't._ The grave reality dawned on him

"**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo!**"

_----------------------------------------scene change-----------------------------------------_

Anna woke up, and as every morning she sat up in bed and resisted the urge to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. The last time Yoh had seen that, he had called her cute. So she avoided that particular activity, after all if she wanted to be an block of seemingly emotional-ice she couldn't go around blushing now, could she?

She got dressed, of course she was still wearing the same type of dress as before. Anna would easily scoff at "change" if one compared it to the much more respectable "tradition".

She looked to the bandana in her hand, the one Yoh had snuck into her room to place as her "birthday present". She scowled, how in the seven hells had Yoh figured out her birthday? She had kept that information more secure than Manta kept his "Final Fantasy X save game data". At least there was a hurricane. If not, Yoh would have probably done something stupid like set up a "birthday party" or act all sweet, or pick flowers. _Baka-Yoh, what part of "keep away from me until I can control my powers" escapes him? Such extreme levels of Baka-ness can only-_

A scream rend through the air. Anna resisted the urge to cover her ears or cringe, standing as if everything was perfectly normal. What kind of ice-queen cringes? She noted that she could hear various bump and crashing sounds following the scream. _Good, I can still hear… I thought banshees weren't native to Japan?_ _Wait… no, it's just Tamao._

"**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo!**" an anguish-ridden cry drifted to Anna's ears. Again, she resisted the urge to cover her ears.

_Yoh?_ Anna resisted the urge to sigh. _Either Bob's died, Bob's retired, Yoh lost/broke his CD collection, he's stumbled onto his grandparents making out, or his headphones have gone missing. _Anna, again, resisted the urge to sigh. She stepped out into the hallway.

"Anna! Anna! Anna! It's an emergency! Something horrible has happened! We have to-"

Anna would have responded, or slapped him, which was a response in itself, really. However, Yoh had grabbed her shoulders and was shaking her, trying to get her to understand the horror, the urgency of the situation.

Anna, meanwhile, couldn't speak. Of course, she was been shaken way too much to form coherent sentences, and Kyoyama Anna's sentences were _always _coherent, so she stayed silent. _Yoh is such a baka._ Anna remembered the bandana in her right hand, the one Yoh had secretly made for her birthday out of condensed and solidified, furyoku. Furyoku energy is linked to the soul, she reminded herself. And using her itako-typical powers, she spoke directly into his soul through the link between the bandana and Yoh.

An abuse of power? An abuse of something as sacred as a direct path to someone's soul? Yeah, but this was Yoh, her fiancée, she'd been abusing him for years (lol). What normal people called abuse was an everyday occurrence by now. They had together, after all, left 'normality' far, far behind.

"_Baka-Yoh"_

Yoh was so surprised to hear Anna's voice resonating throughout his soul, that he stopped shaking her, and gave off a questioning look.

"_I'm sending my thoughts directly into your soul, because you were shaking me like the baka you are, so that there's no way that I can talk"_

"eh, heheh. But, more importantly, my headphones!"

"_No, more importantly, do you have any idea what I can do with this?"_

"you can talk to me, but headphones…"

_Yoh isn't going to even listen until he finds his gaudy, too-large headphones… I still think he cares about their safety too much._ Anna didn't particularly feel like reminiscing about Yoh's reasons for cherishing the monstrous set of headphones, there was an important matter to deal with.

Seeing that the effect of someone 'invading' his soul with outside thoughts was lost on Yoh, Anna started talking normally "I have your headphones, baka. Did you think you ran out into a hurricane yesterday with them still on? You left them in the house."

"Eh?.! Alright!" Yoh, overcome with emotion, totally ignored all semblance of reason and… survival instinct and did the first thing that came to his mind. Relieved and happy beyond comprehension at having his headphones safe and sound, he hugged Anna. (Oh dear god, get Faust over here!)

Once again, Anna couldn't speak, because Kyoyama Anna's sentences were _always_ coherent and she was truly at a loss of what to say. She fought the rising blush coming to her cheeks mightily and, somehow prevailed over her feminine emotions yet again. _B-Baka-Yoh, if you're going to hug me, at least make sure not to hold me so… tenderly. And for Kami's sake don't make me feel so… warm._

A timid cry of "breakfast is ready!" reached them. Yoh, still smiling like an idiot, pulled away from Anna and increased his smile to full-blown "I'm-not-even-sure-why-I'm-so-ridiculously-happy-but-I-am" status and walked ahead towards the dining area, Anna following behind. Yes, he had come to his senses, and now if he could just pretend that he hadn't done anything, maybe Anna would let him live…

_----------------------------------------scene change-----------------------------------------_

Tamao was quite lucky, she realized, that Yoh had walked into the dining area with Anna. Because Anna's immediate reaction to seeing Tamao had both Zenki and Kohki aiming for her head.

Yep... just another random day in the Asakura household

* * *

_Explination Corner_

Ah, this one is neither fun, funny, or remotely interesting, but pure information for those that don't get the "-sama" and "-san" things

Ah, for those of you that don't get the "-kun" or "-sama" things:

In Japanese, you can add various things to the end of someone's name. In fact, it's mandatory that you _do_. If you aim for formal politeness, you add "-san" like Tamao does for Anna's name.

If you're closer friends with a person you would usually add "-kun" for a boy or "-chan" for a girl. There are instances where, for instance, a girl may add "-chan" to her boyfriends nickname or whatnot, but that is rare.

"-sama" is added to someone you would define as someone above you, not as in the sense that your boss is your superior, but in the sense that a king, god, or a very respectable relative is above you. For instance "kami-sama", "funkmasterjo-sama" "Onee-sama"

You will also, hear Amidamaru use "-dono" and this similar to sama, but rather old and 'out of use'. He uses it because: 1. Amidamaru died 600 years ago and 2. because he recognizes Yoh as his master and deeply respects him.

Finally, there are instances where nothing is added to the end of someone's name. This tends to show a deep level of familiarity. Like Yoh and Anna. Or maybe just contempt, as in, you would refuse to even add the polite "-san" to someone's name.

One last thing to tagg on, why is Amidamaru so... respectful to Yoh, a kid? Because, for the greater part of his life, Amidamaru's dream was only to serve an honorable master. That's all, not fame, not glory, not a family or money or status, his dream was just that. And he looked for one for a long time, but he never found one. A fact that, inevitabely led him to death, if you think about it. Amidamaru finally found a trully honourable master in Yoh, he can be forgiven for his sometimes serious attitude towards his service.

* * *

_Author's Corner_

Ah, well it's not really that great, it was somewhat unrefined, and there's a cliffy, but I had to do _some_thing to make up for missing Sunday. So…

Oh, and it was **really** hard to pick up this line again after that "Demonslayer-Yoh" side-story arc.

Oh, and I'm very happy that more people have added me to their "story alert list".


End file.
